Lawrence, MA 7th Alarm - Bennington & Saratoga Sts - 6/11/17

Lawrence firefighters, with the help of multiple fire departments from thruout the region battled this 7 alarm fire in the Arlington district on Lawrence's North side on Sunday afternoon June 11th.

After recieving multiple phone calls, units were dispatched to the area of 118 Bennington St for the house fire. Upon arrival, firefighters had heavy fire conditions on the rear porch area of a triple decker that not only had extended into the home on all floors but had already extended to multiple other nearby dwellings. Second and third alarms were transmitted within minutes of arrival as the fire was advancing rapidly and crews had trouble securing an adequate water supply. As the fire grew in intensity and outside temperatures reached the low to mid 90's with high humidity, 4th and 5th alarms were requested with those additional companies to find hydrants from several blocks away and lay into the fire via a relay pump system. Firefighters did everything they could to stop the advancement of the fire by running multiple big lines and pouring water on from above from ladderpipe operations via Ladders 4 and 5, Salem NH Tower 1 and Lowell Ladder 3. 6th and 7th alarms were ultimately transmitted for additional companies to assist in fire suppression as well as a full department recall.

While the vast majority of the most severe damage were to homes on Benningotn St, the fire did extend to a garage and a home on Saratoga St. In all, 3 dwellings, 2 triple deckers and a 2.5 story home were completely destroyed on Bennington St along with damage of varying degrees be it fire, smoke water or heat to at least 5 others on Bennington AND Saratoga Sts. The cause of the fire has been determined to be careless disposal of smoking materials. The fire department reported that 60+ people were displaced by the fire with the Red Cross on scene to assist those families affected.

** I arrived about 45 minutes into the fire as I had an extended ETA coming from Peabody, who's FD coincidentally also ended up at the fire. So these are the best I could get given my late arrival.